One of my young horses got a virus and was on banamine for several days. He was prescribed Omeprazole to counter the effects of banamine and not eating. Now he is losing pigment on his nostrils/muzzle. Omeprazole can cause vitiligo in humans and it looks like it is responsible for the loss of pigment in this young horse. The vet said that he knew that it could cause loss of pigment in people but hadn’t seen it in a horse. Just wondering if anyone has seen this side effect in a horse.
I would imagine horses in general have much less of a genetic predisposition for vitiligo than humans do, which is why it’s uncommon to rare. In people at least, it seems that once the PPI is stopped, pigmentation returns.
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Maybe copper deficiency?
"Copper is the trace mineral heavily associated with the formation and maintenance of elastic connective tissue, metabolism of iron, energy production within the cellular mitochondria, and production of melanin. The copper requirement for most horses is thought to be met by the forages in a normal diet, but more research is needed before the exact requirements are definitively known.
Deficiency: Copper deficiency in horses is rare, but has been implicated in developmental orthopedic disease in young horses as well as arterial ruptures and chronic anemia. Loss of pigment in the hair coat may also be a sign of a deficiency.
Toxicity: For toxic levels to occur, copper intake must be relatively high, making copper toxicity in horses very rare. Possible symptoms may include liver damage. "
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PPIs are known to disrupt melanocyte production.
A copper deficiency presents differently from vitiligo, at least in the majority of cases, if not all.
